i goofed

[XWrench3]

so my daughter is getting my sons old computer. so i want to just wipethe hard drive clean, so she can start fresh. we have a system restore disc, which i ran, but i goofed someplace along the line. it did not erase his old stuff, it just moved it to an "old" file. which if he was keeping the computer would be fine. but she might as well start with a clean slate, so she can add what she wants, and have the entire hard drive, instead of only about 1/3rd of it. what did i do wrong? i do not remember seeing a spot that asked if i wanted to save the old information. its Windows 7 professional by the way.

 

[carnageX]

Just run Disk Cleanup by right clicking the HDD -> Properties -> Disk Cleanup... -> Let it scan, and when it finishes, click "Clean System files" -> it will scan again, and when it finishes, select the "Old Windows install files" in the list and then click OK -> let it delete and it should be good.

 

[PP Mguire]

Or alternatively you can just delete the Windows.old folder.

 

[carnageX]

Or alternatively you can just delete the Windows.old folder.

Not all of it will delete since it has leftover system/protected files. Gets to be a PITA to try to manually remove it.

 

[PP Mguire]

That's why you can take ownership of the whole folder first and then delete it.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...ership-to-explorer-right-click-menu-in-vista/

 

[carnageX]

That's why you can take ownership of the whole folder first and then delete it.
Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7, 8 or Vista

Done that and it's still a PITA .

Might as well just use Disk Cleanup and you don't have to mess with any of that.

 

[PP Mguire]

I always have it when I do a fresh install anyways. Always gets the trick done by simply taking ownership and deleting. Technically less steps.

 

[carnageX]

Last time I did it on my server I had to go into several subdirectories several times and take ownership of sub folders, even though I set it up to take ownership of subfolders/files.

Similar issue when I did it on a friend's computer - ended up just running Disk Cleanup and it took care of it.

 

[XWrench3]

on my (vista) computer, and the previous (xp) computer, i had to do a system restore, and from what i remember on the vista one, it wiped the hard drive clean. the xp one (which was an e machine) i had to do a lot. i know now there was something wrong with it, it eventually died completey, and had been back to the factory 3 or 4 times before it finally stayed running long enough to get out of warranty. is there a way to actually wipe this one clean, or do i need to go thru the other steps? and if i have to manually do it, how do i "take ownership" of the "old" file, before deleteing it?

 

[PP Mguire]

Try his suggestions first. The way Windows 7 handles files and folder from other users is actually quite different than Vista and XP.

If you do it my way, you'll need to grab the reg tweak in the link I put up there, install it, right click the folder you want to delete and select take ownership, then when that's done delete the folder.